A shocking new study by the University of Illinois and Arizona State University indicates that high-intensity hurricanes with female names are deadlier than their masculine counterparts, due to people not taking them as seriously.

Yeah, let that sink in for a second. When people hear that Hurricane Maximus is bearing down on the East coast, they board up the windows and skip town; if it's Hurricane Maxine, though, they're more likely to ride it out and under-prepare.

The study compiled 60 years of hurricane data, and found that storms with the most masculine names killed an average of 11 people, while the most feminine ones killed about 59. In an effort to find out why, the researchers conducted an experiment: nearly 350 people were asked to predict the strength and intensity of 10 storms (five male and five female) -- the males were almost universally predicted to be worse by both the men and women polled. This flies in the face of the (seemingly) common perception that storms with female names are more devastating.

Incredibly, the results remained the same even when people were asked to judge the risk of storms strong enough for the government to suggest evacuation.

So what's the key takeaway? Simple. Get out of Dodge when a hurricane's headed your way, regardless of whether it's named Sal or Stacey. Because, clearly, hell hath no fury like a female-named hurricane that doesn't get any respect.

Gianni Jaccoma is an editorial assistant for Thrillist Travel. He takes all forms of weather seriously, especially the dreaded wintry mix. Follow his scattered shower updates on Twitter @gjaccoma.